Chris Getz hints necessary White Sox outfield upgrade could be coming on trade market

With 2023 all-star outfielder Luis Robert Jr. now a member of the New York Mets, the White Sox have major question marks surrounding their outfield for 2026. Current options include: An oft-injured and defensively declining Andrew Benintendi, a defensive specialist with little history of hitting in Derek Hill, and a handful of high-upside but unproven options in Luisangel Acuna, Everson Pereira, and Jarred Kelenic. At his media session following the Robert trade, White Sox general manager Chris Getz downplayed the idea of needing to add to the outfield, instead expressing the team’s desire to add more talent all-around.

Getz appeared on the Rekap podcast with David Kaplan and Ryan McGuffey earlier this week, and echoed a similar tune, but did provide insight on the team’s plans to add to the outfield.


“We’re looking at the outfield market,” Getz said. “We’re talking to clubs. There are still guys out there”. 

Getz didn’t expand further on the White Sox pursuits in the outfield, but I find it interesting that he mentioned talking to other teams and didn’t mention free-agent pursuits. The White Sox have been tied to the outfield free agent market at times this offseason, but a deal has yet to materialize. Could the White Sox be pivoting to the trade market to improve the position group due to stagnant free agent negotiations? 

White Sox have several intriguing trade options on the market

It’s difficult to determine who might be available for trade, especially for a price the White Sox would be comfortable paying. The team is unlikely to be willing to part with any of its top prospects at this stage in the rebuild, so bigger names are probably off the table. The Phillies are still looking to dump Nick Castellanos and his $20 million salary before camp opens, but he really only makes sense if the White Sox are willing to take on the money to land a prospect or two in return. Jasson Dominguez of the Yankees, Wilyer Abreu of the Red Sox, and Jo Adell of the Angels are among the rumored names on the market this winter, and the asking prices for them are unknown. 

Wilyer Abreu, in particular, feels like an excellent fit for the White Sox if the price is right. The 26 year-old has posted an OPS near .780 in each of the last two seasons while playing elite defense in right field. He’d add a third strong left-handed presence to the White Sox lineup with Colson Montgomery and Munetaka Murakami. The Red Sox have been exploring the catching market this offseason, so perhaps it could be part of a larger trade involving White Sox catcher Edgar Quero. Both Quero and Abreu could be moved to free up at bats for other players. 

This is all just speculation, and I may be reading too far into Getz’s comment. It’s very possible the White Sox simply bring back Mike Tauchman or add Michael Conforto on the free agent market. They may also choose to go into the season with their outfield as is. Regardless, in an outfield market largely devoid of good options, Chris Getz should certainly consider all possibilities to make the team better. 

The 2026 season is fast-approaching, so the White Sox are running out of time to finalize their offseason. Whatever the move is, look for it to happen sooner rather than later.